Songs of Innocence
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: Moments and memories from Franklin Richard's youth. Requested by alexandizzie4eva.
1. Franklin's F

**This is the start of one-shots surrounding Franklin's life, and moments from it. This is for Maria because she called me Franklin Girl, so I thought I'd start off with a moment with father and son. Please let me know any scenarios you'd like to see with Franklin and his parents, or his uncles, or anyone. I'm going to be doing them as one-shots, but they'll all be inside this fic.**

**Franklin's F.**

Sighing, Reed dipped his head for a moment, rubbing his temples with one hand. Unfortunately, the tension didn't ebb away as it did when his wife's hands massaged the area, but at that moment, she was out with their young daughter, Valeria, visiting her father. That had left Reed to collect their twelve-year-old son, Franklin, from school that afternoon. Of course, it had seemed simple enough, and he had done it hundreds of times, but he wished that Sue were here to help him deal with what had been revealed when he had taken Franklin's lunch box from his school bag.

A piece of paper was held in his loose hand, which he used to lean against the back of the couch. It had been straightened out as best he could, and it was still legible, but it had clearly been shoved into the bag to try and hide the evidence of what it showed. Clearly, this was something that Franklin thought Mommy could handle better than Daddy.

Part of Reed agreed with that - and that part of him was struggling to understand how his son, the math genius, had come home with a fail in math.

When Reed was his son's age, his own father would have sent him to his room without dinner. His own father might have beaten him, as well. In all practicality, his own father would have hit the roof with unleashed anger, but that wasn't something Reed was going to do. All he had to do was look at his son, the image of his mother in every way, and he felt all the anger disappear from inside of him.

Franklin was a beautiful boy, and there wasn't a bone in his body that could deny that. This was his son, the son that Sue bore him. The first child of two that their love had created. He had Sue's shining golden hair, and the same blue eyes that sparkled with happiness and curiosity. The sun-kissed skin from playing in the park over the recent summer had left him with a subtle dusting of freckles over his fair skin, as well, something that Reed wasn't prone to, but he knew from photographs that both his mother and his uncle experienced on their summer holidays as children.

At the moment, Franklin was sitting on the couch that Reed leaned on. From his position behind him, Reed could only look down at the top of his bowed head, and it didn't take a genius to work out that the young boy was just waiting for an outburst. He was waiting to be punished, and that was what Reed couldn't understand. Naturally, as a curious and limitless child, Franklin had his share of getting in to trouble, and he occassionally got punished by the taking away of video games for a week, or no television after dinner, but he never got punished in the way Reed had been. He had never been belted, or phsyically hurt, by anyone. That had been Reed's silent promise the moment he had first held his son in his arms, twelve years, two months and three days ago. He would never become his father. He would never use abuse for punishment. He would do nothing but love the child he had aided into the world.

Reed never understood how anyone can see past the stream of love that flowed when they looked at their child, to the point where they wanted their child to feel pain.

"I'm not angry." He spoke into the silence of the room. Franklin, head bowed on the couch still, didn't move. "I'm just disappointed."

Finally, the young boy moved. He turned on the couch, leaning up on his knees so that his face was closer to his fathers. "Do you want to hear my side of it?" He asked. That was something that he had learnt from observing the bickering between his Uncle Johnny and his Uncle Ben; that there were two sides to every story.

Reed looked at him tiredly. "Franklin, how can there be two sides to it?"

"There are!" Franklin insisted unfairly. "I got every question right on the test, and the only reason Mr. Krahern failed me was because I didn't write down my working out." He explained.

"Why not?" Reed asked.

Franklin shrugged, as if his answer were the simplest thing in the world. "I do them in my head."

"Did you tell Mr. Krahern that?"

Franklin nodded furiously. "Yeah, I did, and he said he didn't believe me."

"Franklin-"

"He said that if he couldn't do them in his head and I could then I must be cheating." He interrupted.

Reed loked at him incredulously. "That's ridiculous! How can he fail you for being smarter than he is?"

"That's what I said." Franklin told him.

"You did?" Reed asked, a subtle hint of a smirk crossing his lips. Whilst his son had both his mother and his father's intelligence, even at twelve years old, he had definately acquired his mothers spirit. "What did he say about that?"

Franklin pointed to the paper in Reed's hand. "He failed me, remember?"

Surprising both himself and his son, Reed laughed. Taking a nearby pen, he signed next to the notion of 'parents signature' on the bottom of the letter explaining the failed test, and shook his head, still laughing softy. After a moment, understanding that his father had clearly not been angry at all with him, Franklin joined in. Smiling, Reed was pleased to see the happier expression on his son's face again, and ruffled the blonde hair on top of his head. It was getting longer now, and the ends were in desperate need of a trim before it started to look messy.

"Dad, do we have to tell Mom about this?" Franklin asked after a moment.

"You don't want to tell her?" Franklin shook his head. "Why not?"

He looked away, scrunching up his nose. "If we tell Mom, she'll go and shout at Mr. Krahern again, and that was kinda embarrassing last time."

Reed nodded, remembering the encounter at the last parents night that had left an interesting story in the paper the next day. "Alright." He decided, giving his son a hug with his extended arms. "It'll be our secret." He assured him.

"Thanks Dad." Franklin grinned, giving him that hard, crushing hug that Reed had only ever had from his child. "You're the best."


	2. Innocent Answers

**Here's the second installment of Franklin's one-shots!**

"Dad!" Franklin cried excitedly, running through the house on the afternoon of February the 14th.

Reed looked up from his lab surface when he heard his son's voice echoing through the house. Franklin Richards was six years old now, and had taken the school bus for the first time that day, whilst usually someone drove him to the school gates. Now though, when he saw his son's excited face, he knew that it had been a good idea.

"Hey, son, did you have a good day?" Reed asked as Franklin jumped onto the other chair beside him.

"Yeah! We did sprinting, and I won!" He said proudly.

"You did?" Reed asked, clearly knowing that he didn't get his sporting ability from his father. "That's brilliant!" He praised, and Franklin grinned proudly.

"And our teacher said it was Valytimes day." He said.

"Valentine's day." Reed corrected.

"That's it." He remembered. "She told us all about it. I have to do a quiz for homework and the best answers win. Will you and Mom help me?" He asked.

"Course we will." Reed assured him, ruffling his blonde hair. "Let's go find her shall we?"

He lifted Franklin up into the fireman's carry, which always made him giggle insanely as he was held upside down, and went into the kitchen where Sue was making a bottle for their one-year-old daughter, Valeria. Valeria recognised her father instantly and began to clap her hands happily at him, smiling and laughing herself. Hearing her daughter's commotion, Sue wasn't at all surprised when she saw Reed and Franklin walking into the room. Reed set Franklin on his feet and he rushed to hug Sue.

"Hey, Sweetie, you have a good day?" She asked him.

"Yeah. I need help with my homework." He said.

"Sure honey, I'll just finish Val's bottle and then I'll help." She told him

"Ok, Mom. I'll go get it." He told her, rushing out of the room.

Reed came and hugged Sue from behind. "He's getting more and more like you every day." She told him.

"What?" Reed asked. "More attractive, intelligent and devilishly charming?" He asked her teasingly.

"No." She told him with a smile, turning around to face him and give him a quick kiss. "He's driving me crazy."

Reed laughed. "I live to please." He told her. He leaned in to kiss her again, but was interrupted by a series of desperate attention pleas from Valeria, who had her arms outstretched in the high chair reaching out for Reed.

"Da-da" She said unfairly, unhappy that Sue was getting attention and she wasn't.

"She's been saying that all afternoon." Sue told him. "Even when your sister was playing with her."

Reed laughed and went over to Valeria's high chair, lifting her into his arms. "What's all this fuss for?" He asked her in a baby voice, which Sue smiled at. Valeria stopped whining instantly. "See, that's better." He told her, and she began to fiddle with the nearest button on his shirt that he was wearing. Sue handed him the bottle.

"Here you go." She said, and he began feeding the infant as Franklin came back in holding a sheet of paper. Sue and Reed, still holding Valeria, followed him into the dining room where he climbed up onto a chair and read aloud the instructions on the sheet.

"Answer the que-quest-"

"Questions." Sue prompted, who had sat down next to him and was helping him to follow the words with his finger like he had been taught to do at school.

"_Answer the questions on love for the Valentine's quiz. The student with the best answers will get a prize of ten dollars_." He looked up at Sue. "Mom, _I _want ten dollars." He told her.

"I'll write down your answers and you can hand it in to your teacher tomorrow." Sue told him. "The first question is _How do you decide who to marry_?"

Franklin looked thoughtful for a moment. "Someone who likes the same stuff as you. If you like sports, she should like sports, so she could keep the chips and dip coming." He said thoughtfully.

Writing down his answer with a raised eyebrow, Sue could see that Reed was trying very hard not to laugh, Sue gave him a warning glance that showed him not to expect Reed's answer to be happening in _their _house. Of course, it wasn't a problem with Reed and sports as much as it was Reed and documentaries.

"Ok, _What is the right age to get married_?" She asked him, having written down, word for word, his answer.

"Twenty three." He said confidently.

"Why's that, Franklin?" She asked curiously.

"Because you know them for FOREVER then."

"_What would you do on a date that was going bad_?" Sue asked, wondering why the children were being asked questions like this at six years old.

Run home and play dead." Franklin said as if it were the easiest answer in the world. Reed couldn't hold in his laughter. He let out a small laugh that Franklin followed with, only Reed was much redder in the face.

"_When is it OK to kiss someone_?" Sue asked.

"When they're rich." Franklin told her.

"Ok, and last one." Sue announced. "_How do you make marriage work_?"

Franklin went silent for a moment and looked a few times between Sue and Reed, in which time they both smile curiously at him, wondering if his answer would be. "Can _I _write this answer down, Mom?" He asked.

"Sure, sweetie." Sue said, and slid the paper over to him, handing him the pencil as well. He covered the paper with one arm, so that neither could see what he was writing, and leaned close to the page while he wrote. After a few minutes, he sat up.

"Finished. Can I go play now?" He asked.

"Course sweetie," Sue said, and Franklin grinned, slipping from his chair and running off.

"What did he write?" Reed asked curiously as both he and Sue leaned in to read his answer. Even though Sue read it aloud, Reed followed it anyway.

"_You have to tell the girl she's pretty and is special for you, and tell the boy that he's handsome and a good daddy. That means your married forever." _She read out.

"Only Franklin." Reed said with a smile. "Still think he's like me?" He challenged.

Sue grinned at him giving him a kiss over the top of Valeria's head. "More than ever."

**Hope you all like it :D It was just something I had to write :D**


	3. No Charge

**No Charge**

Susan Richard was fixing dinner for her family when her son came into the kitchen. He was in the middle of his summer vacation from school when he decided he was bored, and so Sue had given her seven-year-old a task of helping her to complete her housework for the day. Franklin Richards had been that bored, that he'd agreed. So now, he came into the kitchen, and handed his mother a piece of paper that he'd been writing on. Thinking that he'd drawn a picture and wanted it added to his large collage of creative achievement on the kitchen wall, Sue wiped her hands on the apron she wore, and took it from him.

When she read it though, she was surprised.

_Franklin's allowance_

_For helping uncle Johnny mow the grass, $4  
__For making my own bed, $1  
__For going to the store with you, 50c  
__For being nice to by baby sister all day $2  
__For taking out the trash, $1  
__For getting a good report card this year $5_

She looked up from the paper, watching with a keen curiosity as he stood there expectantly. If he had been any more blatent about it, he would have had his hands outstretched waiting for money to fall into them.

At that moment, a thousand memories washed over her mind, some good, some not as good, but memories all the same. She took the paper, and turned it over, leaning on the kitchen counter as she wrote on the back of it.

_For the nine months I carried you, growing inside me, no charge.  
__For the night I sat up with you, looked after you when you were sick, no charge  
__For the time and the tears, no charge  
__For the nights filled with nightmares and the worries ahead, no charge  
__For the advice and knowledge you'll gain, and the cost of your college, no charge  
__For the food, the clothes, and for wiping your nose, no charge  
__Son, when you add it up, the cost of my love, is no charge._

When he had finished reading what she wrote, he looked up at her with his big blue eyes. No, she was the one standing there expectantly. He tilted his head to one side, and read the paper before him again, before smiling at her.

"Mom, I sure do love you." He told her, turning the paper over to the side he had written on, and, taking the pen she had written with, he added three words to the paper. He placed it on the table, stood on his tiptoes to hug his mother, and then ran from the room, pleased with himself.

Smiling to herself, Sue picked up the paper to see what he had written, and there, in his childlike writing, he had written the three words that made her smile most that day.

_Paid in full._

FIN.

**This was inspired by the story 'no charge' by Shirley Caeser.**


	4. Teething Problems

Seven year old Franklin knew from the moment that his mother walked him into the latex-smelling waiting room that it was over. This was certainly the end of his days. In the back of the building he could hear that tiny drilling sound that is so quiet that it hurts. Knowing that his time was soon to be up, he cautiously approached the receptionist's desk with Sue, holding her hand desperately.

"I'm here with my son, Franklin Richards," She said.

"Yes, please sit down," the receptionist replied. "It will be a few minutes."

These were the words uttered by every receptionist, and one of the many lies that are encountered in the dentist's office. Every human being on the planet knows these words for what they are. A 'few minutes' simply refers to 'whenever we feel like calling you back.' Franklin sat down with a sigh, knowing it would be a while. This was the dentist's evil ploy to make his patients worry and stress before their time comes. From somewhere in the back, a poor, forlorn person moaned in pain.

Franklin eyed the magazines on the small coffee table in front of him. Various magazines he had never heard of were populated on the surface. Franklin did not pick them up. No one ever picked them up, for it was simply too awkward; too dangerous. One must consider that whenever any one of the number of people in the waiting room stands up, it is like being on a stage. Everyone's eyes become immediately directed towards the "stander-upper," and his/her face blooms with a red as dark as wine.

That is why Franklin remained seated, holding onto Sue's arm tightly. His knuckles were white with fear, and every breath was a rough, unsteady stream of air, taken like it was his last.

45 minutes later, a friendly voice called. "Franklin?" Sue and Franklin stood up, still clinging to his mother and refusing to let go, and walked towards the short, blonde woman who held a clipboard in her hand. The clipboard contained a manila folder, where, Franklin presumed, his "files" were kept.

The woman led him into a room that gleamed with the sheen of metallic instruments. She directed him to sit in down in the soft, leather, reclining chair, and he followed suit, for everyone knows that it is certain death to refuse anything in the dentist's office. "The dentist will be in in a moment."

Ah, another falsity. Ladies and gentlemen, the dentist will _not_ be in "in a moment." It will in fact take him quite a few moments to get to the room were the subject is being held captive. That is why Franklin waited. His palms were growing quite sweaty, for doom was drawing nigh.

Eventually, the dentist entered the room. He held out his hand in a friendly gesture known as a "handshake." Franklin wiped a streak of sweat onto his green t shirt and meekly shook the dentist's outstretched palm. The man in the white coat sat down next to the chair and used the foot controls to tilt it horizontally.

Franklin was sweating quite profusely now, and the doctor sensed his nervousness. "It'll be alright, Franklin. This won't be as bad as you think." The end of the dentist's sentence was punctuated by a scream of agony from the next room over. Franklin swallowed the lump in his throat and managed a wan smile.

The dentist grinned back. His brilliantly white teeth leered at Franklin, seemingly mocking him. The dentist held up his tiny little hook and mirror, and things fell apart.

He jumped up onto the chair, crouching down with his feet planted firmly into the leather, and unleashed a horrific yell. The dentist stood up in awe, dropping his Instruments of Horror. Franklin let out a scream and swiped the side table with his entire arm, sending various dental tools scattering. The dentist was shocked, and stood with his mouth agape. Sue simply stood in the corner with her arms folded. "No again..." She muttered. This was the third dentist she had taken him to that year.

Franklin hopped over the armrest of the chair and dashed out of the room into the hallway that was home to the exit that he was in search of. Unfortunately, he encountered a slight problem on the way.

The truth, my friends, is that the dentist's office is purposely built in order to confuse the people who enter it as much as possible. It is a maze of white walls, all of which appear the same. It was in these white walls that Franklin was hopelessly trapped. They would soon close in him and take him back to "the chair," where the dentist would proceed to extract his innards.

He ran wildly through the depths of the office until, like a beacon in a thick fog, the exit sign glowed above Franklin's head. He eyed the door, wondering if it was merely a trap, leading only to the room with "the chair" in it. He debated for a moment, and then realized that the nurses had turned the corner and were running towards him. He ran straight for the door and burst through, into the natural light of day.

Moments later, Sue found her son sitting in the car, strapped in, ready to go home.


End file.
